Dear Contract Husband, I Didn't Know You Were Like This? - Chapter 2
The Emperor killed anyone who displeased him, be they commoners or nobles.
“Your Majesty, I apologize, but as your subject, I must speak.”
“I refuse.”
Her words fell on deaf ears.
‘It must be a moment of folly.’
Maya tried to understand, seeing as he was the first and only person to acknowledge her.
…But in truth, there was no need to.
Bound by the contract, Maya began to assimilate with the Emperor little by little.
‘They deserve to die anyway.’
Her thoughts increasingly became unlike herself.
‘I’m going mad.’
It was undeniable at this point.
The Emperor was the scum of the earth.
She wanted to sever the neck of that trash, even knowing that killing the contractor would mean her own death too.
The time she lived as ‘Maya Pendragon’ diminished.
Innocent blood stained her hands.
Maya became a puppet of the Emperor, spreading infamy.
Even when she regained her senses and cried out that she was manipulated by the Emperor, no one believed her.
People trembled at the mere mention of her name.
‘What was the purpose of becoming a knight captain?’
She loathed her naive self for asking the Emperor to be her contractor.
Drowning in self-loathing, yet assimilating with the Emperor, she continued to commit murder.
Already convinced her life couldn’t sink any lower amidst its utter disarray,
Maya’s belief held until she heard the real reason the drunken Emperor had chosen her as the captain of the knights.
“I chose you merely for your looks. Who knew you’d be so useful.”
Her swordsmanship, her everything, was denied.
‘What am I to live for?’
She envisioned an endless stretch of dark days,
Until she faced him.
***
“…Maya Pendragon.”
A man in a black helm entered Maya’s view.
It had been a long while since she had returned to being ‘Maya Pendragon,’ living like a dog under a tyrant.
“Who are you?”
Maya asked his name, knowing full well who he was.
Tristan, the Grand Duke.
The man who had proposed to her.
Instead of answering, the man asked with an air of confusion,
“Why did you not alert the Emperor of my arrival, knowing I was coming?”
“Aren’t you Tristan, the Grand Duke?”
While she was becoming the scum’s dog, Tristan, the Grand Duke in the black helm, began expanding his power in the North.
The descendant of the Black Dragon!
Tristan, the Grand Duke, had become a hero to the people.
“Is the Grand Duke truly a better man than the current Emperor?”
Having lost faith in nobles with power after the Emperor, Maya was skeptical.
She followed his trail.
Wherever Tristan went, he spread wealth, aiding the people and creating jobs.
He was nurturing sprouts in barren lands.
His knights gradually marched toward the capital.
“Kill Tristan, the Grand Duke, Maya.”
It was the Emperor’s command, but Maya did not comply.
Yet, knowing it might be her last memory as Maya Pendragon, she feared she might kill the Grand Duke once she would lose her sanity again.
She hoped he would be a strategist surpassing her, truly wishing to break this curse.
‘Thankfully.’
If they were meeting like this, it seemed Tristan wasn’t just noble, but a capable individual too.
“The Emperor is in the garden.”
“Why are you telling me this? Aren’t you the Emperor’s person?”
“No, I’m not.”
Maya smiled at the confused Duke.
“I am just Maya Pendragon.”
Yes, she was just Maya Pendragon.
Not the tyrant’s dog.
She felt liberated reaffirming this.
“Grand Duke!”
People were rushing toward Tristan.
Maya sensed that this was her end.
Her life, stuck in the mire, was finally concluding.
‘If caught, I’ll die a cruel death.’
She couldn’t feel unjust.
She had taken more lives than she could count.
“Capture Maya Pendragon.”
The Duke spoke succinctly before turning toward the garden, likely to eliminate the Emperor himself.
The morale of his people hinged on his every gesture.
To beautifully conclude this rebellion, the Duke had to personally slay the Emperor.
“Please, make it as painful as possible.”
Maya conveyed her final wish.
The Grand Duke paused and turned toward her.
It was a statement he could have easily ignored. After all, she was the dog who had taken on all the vile tasks under the Emperor.
“…I’ll try.”
But Tristan, the Grand Duke, did not ignore her.
Even his response to someone like her carried consideration.
‘Actions are more important than words.’
If only she hadn’t been deceived by the Emperor’s sweet words.
If only she had met this man earlier.
Couldn’t she have been able to live as a better person?
